Dickens- Poems

Coradella Collegiate Bookshelf Editions. Poems. Emily Dickinson. Open Purchase the entire Coradella Collegiate Bookshelf on CD at http://collegebookshelf.net Contents Emily Dickinson. Poems. Purchase the entire Coradella Collegiate Bookshelf on CD at http://collegebookshelf.net About the author Emily Dickinson (December 10, 1830 - May 15, 1886), nineteenth century United States poet was born in Amherst, Massachusetts to a prominent family known for support of the local educational institutions. Emily's grandfather, Samuel Fowler Dickinson, was one of the founders of Amherst College, and her father served as lawyer and treasurer for the institution. Emily's father also served in powerful positions on the General Court of Massachusetts, the Massachusetts State Senate, and the United States House of Representatives. During a religious revival that swept Western Massachusetts during the decades of 1840-50, Dickinson found her vocation as a poet. One of her biographers has suggested that Dickinson thought of becoming a poet in the Biblical terms of Jacob wrestling with the angel. Dickinson lived most of her life in the house in which she was born, made a few trips to visit relatives in Boston, Cambridge, and Connecticut. Most of her work is not only reflective of the small moments of what happens around her, but also of the larger battles and themes of what was happening in the larger society. For example, over half of her poems were written during the years of the American Civil War. In the words of one of her most memorable lines, Dickinson's poems tell all the truth but tell it slant: Tell all the Truth but tell it slant— Success in Circuit lies Too bright for our infirm Delight The Truth's superb surprise As Lightning to the Children eased With explanation kind The Truth must dazzle gradually Or everyman be blind— By the time of her death, no more than seven Dickinson poems had been published, but her legacy of 1776 poems eventually brought the full extent of her work to the world. Today, Dickinson is not only considered one of the most accessible poets of all time but one of the most representative. Features of her work that were considered oddities have become signature aspects of her style and form. Dramatic asides, odd capitalization, telegraphic dash punctuation, hymnbook rhythms, off-rhymes, multiple voices, and elaborate metaphors have become recognizable to readers across time and translations of her work. She died, as she was born, in Amherst, Massachusetts. Contents Emily Dickinson. Poems. Purchase the entire Coradella Collegiate Bookshelf on CD at http://collegebookshelf.net Contents 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. A Book A Charm Invests A Face A Narrow Fellow in the Grass A Thunderstorm A wounded deer leaps highest, Because I Could Not Stop for Death Come slowly, Eden! Death Sets A Thing Did The Harebell Loose Her Girdle Heart, we will forget him! Hope is the Thing with Feathers I Died for Beauty, but was Scarce I Felt a Funeral in My Brain I Went to Heaven I'm Nobody! Who are You? I've Known a Heaven Like a Tent My Life Closed Twice Before it Closed She Sweeps With Many-Colored Brooms Snake Success is Counted Sweetest Summer Shower The Bustle in a House The Mystery of Pain The Only News I Know The Pedigree of Honey There Came a Wind Like a Bugle There Is A Word 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. There's a certain slant of light, There's Been a Death in the Opposite House This Is My Letter To The World This Quiet Dust was Gentlemen and Ladies We Like March When Roses Cease To Bloom, Dear Wild Nights! Wild Nights! Click on a poem in the list to go to the first line of that poem. Note: The best way to read this ebook is in Full Screen mode: click View, Full Screen to set Adobe Acrobat to Full Screen View. This mode allows you to use Page Down to go to the next page, and affords the best reading view. Press Escape to exit the Full Screen View. Contents Emily Dickinson. Poems. Purchase the entire Coradella Collegiate Bookshelf on CD at http://collegebookshelf.net 1 —1. A Book There is no frigate like a book To take us lands away, Nor any coursers like a page Of prancing poetry. This traverse may the poorest take Without oppress of toll; How frugal is the chariot That bears a human soul! Poems of Emily Dickinson. Contents NOTICE Copyright © 2004 thewritedirection.net Please note that although the text of this ebook is in the public domain, this pdf edition is a copyrighted publication. FOR COMPLETE DETAILS, SEE COLLEGEBOOKSHELF.NET/COPYRIGHTS 2 Emily Dickinson. Poems. Purchase the entire Coradella Collegiate Bookshelf on CD at http://collegebookshelf.net 3 —2. A Charm Invests A Face A charm invests a face Imperfectly beheld. The lady dare not lift her veil For fear it be dispelled. But peers beyond her mesh, And wishes, and denies, ‘Lest interview annul a want That image satisfies. —3. A Narrow Fellow in the Grass A narrow fellow in the grass Occasionally rides; You may have met him,—did you not, His notice sudden is. The grass divides as with a comb, A spotted shaft is seen; And then it closes at your feet And opens further on. He likes a boggy acre, A floor too cool for corn. Yet when a child, and barefoot, I more than once, at morn, Have passed, I thought, a whip-lash Unbraiding in the sun,— When, stooping to secure it, It wrinkled, and was gone. Contents 4 Emily Dickinson. Poems. Purchase the entire Coradella Collegiate Bookshelf on CD at http://collegebookshelf.net 5 Several of nature’s people I know, and they know me; I feel for them a transport Of cordiality; But never met this fellow, Attended or alone, Without a tighter breathing, And zero at the bone. —4. A Thunderstorm The wind begun to rock the grass With threatening tunes and low, He flung a menace at the earth, A menace at the sky. The leaves unhooked themselves from trees And started all abroad; The dust did scoop itself like hands And throw away the road. The wagons quickened on the streets, The thunder hurried slow; The lightning showed a yellow beak, And then a livid claw. The birds put up the bars to nests, The cattle fled to barns; There came one drop of giant rain, And then, as if the hands Contents 6 Emily Dickinson. Poems. Purchase the entire Coradella Collegiate Bookshelf on CD at http://collegebookshelf.net 7 That held the dams had parted hold, The waters wrecked the sky, But overlooked my father’s house, Just quartering a tree. —5. A wounded deer leaps highest. A wounded deer leaps highest, I’ve heard the hunter tell; ’Tis but the ecstasy of death, And then the brake is still. The smitten rock that gushes, The trampled steel that springs: A cheek is always redder Just where the hectic stings! Mirth is mail of anguish, In which its cautious arm Lest anybody spy the blood And, “you’re hurt” exclaim Contents 8 Emily Dickinson. Poems. Purchase the entire Coradella Collegiate Bookshelf on CD at http://collegebookshelf.net 9 —6. Because I Could Not Stop for Death Because I could not stop for Death, He kindly stopped for me; The carriage held but just ourselves And Immortality. We slowly drove, he knew no haste, And I had put away My labour, and my leisure too, For his civility. We passed the school where children played, Their lessons scarcely done; We passed the fields of gazing grain, We passed the setting sun. We paused before a house that seemed A swelling of the ground; The roof was scarcely visible, The cornice but a mound. Since then ’tis centuries; but each Feels shorter than the day I first surmised the horses’ heads Were toward eternity. Contents 10 Emily Dickinson. Poems. Purchase the entire Coradella Collegiate Bookshelf on CD at http://collegebookshelf.net 11 —7. Come slowly, Eden! Come slowly, Eden! lips unused to thee, Bashful, sip thy jasmines, As the fainting bee, Reaching late his flower, Round her chamber hums, Counts his nectars —enters, And is lost in balms! —8. Death Sets A Thing Death sets a thing significant The eye had hurried by, Except a perished creature Entreat us tenderly To ponder little workmanships In crayon or in wool, With “This was last her fingers did,” Industrious until The thimble weighed too heavy, The stitches stopped themselves, And then ‘t was put among the dust Upon the closet shelves. A book I have, a friend gave, Whose pencil, here and there, Had notched the place that pleased him,— At rest his fingers are. Now, when I read, I read not, Contents 12 Emily Dickinson. Poems. Purchase the entire Coradella Collegiate Bookshelf on CD at http://collegebookshelf.net 13 For interrupting tears Obliterate the etchings Too costly for repairs. —9. Did The Harebell Loose Her Girdle Did the harebell loose her girdle To the lover bee, Would the bee the harebell hallow Much as formerly? Did the paradise, persuaded, Yield her moat of pearl, Would the Eden be Eden, Or the earl an earl? Contents 14 Emily Dickinson. Poems. Purchase the entire Coradella Collegiate Bookshelf on CD at http://collegebookshelf.net 15 —10. Heart, we will forget him! Heart, we will forget him! You an I, tonight! You may forget the warmth he gave, I will forget the light. When you have done, pray tell me That I my thoughts may dim; Haste! lest while you’re lagging. I may remember him! —11. Hope is the Thing with Feathers Hope is the thing with feathers That perches in the soul, And sings the tune without the words, And never stops at all, And sweetest in the gale is heard; And sore must be the storm That could abash the little bird That kept so many warm. I’ve heard it in the chilliest land And on the strangest sea; Yet, never, in extremity, It asked a crumb of me. Contents 16 Emily Dickinson. Poems. Purchase the entire Coradella Collegiate Bookshelf on CD at http://collegebookshelf.net 17 —12. I Died for Beauty, but was Scarce I died for beauty, but was scarce Adjusted in the tomb, When one who died for truth was lain In an adjoining room. He questioned softly why I failed? “For beauty,” I replied. “And I for truth, -the two are one; We brethren are,” he said. And so, as kinsmen met a night, We talked between the rooms, Until the moss had reached our lips, And covered up our names. —13. I Felt a Funeral in My Brain I felt a funeral in my brain, And mourners, to and fro, Kept treading, treading, till it seemed That sense was breaking through. And when they all were seated, A service like a drum Kept beating, beating, till I thought My mind was going numb. And then I heard them lift a box, And creak across my soul With those same boots of lead, again. Then space began to toll As all the heavens were a bell, And Being but an ear, And I and silence some strange race, Wrecked, solitary, here. Contents 18 Emily Dickinson. Poems. Purchase the entire Coradella Collegiate Bookshelf on CD at http://collegebookshelf.net 19 —14. I Went to Heaven I went to heaven, ’Twas a small town, Lit with a ruby, Lathed with down. Stiller than the fields At the full dew, Beautiful as pictures No man drew. People like the moth, Of mechlin, frames, Duties of gossamer, And eider names. Almost contented I could be ‘Mong such unique Society. —15. I’m Nobody! Who are You? I’m nobody! Who are you? Are you nobody, too? Then there’s a pair of us -don’t tell! They’d banish us, you know. How dreary to be somebody! How public, like a frog To tell your name the livelong day To an admiring bog! Contents 20 Emily Dickinson. Poems. Purchase the entire Coradella Collegiate Bookshelf on CD at http://collegebookshelf.net 21 —16. I’ve Known a Heaven Like a Tent I’ve known a Heaven like a tent To wrap its shining yards, Pluck up its stakes and disappear Without the sound of boards Or rip of nail, or carpenter, But just the miles of stare That signalize a show’s retreat In North America. No trace, no figment of the thing That dazzled yesterday, No ring, no marvel; Men and feats Dissolved as utterly As birds’ far navigation Discloses just a hue; A plash of oars -a gaiety, Then swallowed up to view. —17. My Life Closed Twice Before it Closed My life closed twice before its close; It yet remains to see If Immortality unveil A third event to me, So huge, so hopeless to conceive, As these that twice befell. Parting is all we know of heaven, And all we need of hell. Contents 22 Emily Dickinson. Poems. Purchase the entire Coradella Collegiate Bookshelf on CD at http://collegebookshelf.net 23 —18. She Sweeps With Many-Colored Brooms She sweeps with many-colored brooms, And leaves the shreds behind; Oh, housewife in the evening west, Come back, and dust the pond! You dropped a purple ravelling in, You dropped an amber thread; And now you’ve littered all the East With duds of emerald! And still she plies her spotted brooms, And still the aprons fly, Till brooms fade softly into stars And then I come away. —19. Snake A narrow fellow in the grass Occasionally rides; You may have met him, -did you not? His notice sudden is. The grass divides as with a comb, A spotted shaft is seen; And then it closes at your feet And opens further on. He likes a boggy acre, A floor too cool for corn. Yet when a child, and barefoot, I more than once, at morn, Have passed, I thought, a whip-lash Unbraiding in the sun, When, stooping to secure it, It wrinkled, and was gone. Contents 24 Emily Dickinson. Poems. Purchase the entire Coradella Collegiate Bookshelf on CD at http://collegebookshelf.net 25 Several of nature’s people I know, and they know me; I feel for them a transport Of cordiality; But never met this fellow, Attended or alone, Without a tighter breathing, And zero at the bone. —20. Success is Counted Sweetest Success is counted sweetest By those who ne’er succeed. To comprehend a nectar Requires sorest need. Not one of all the purple host Who took the flag today Can tell the definition, So clear, of victory As he, defeated, dying, On whose forbidden ear The distant strains of triumph Break agonized and clear! Contents 26 Emily Dickinson. Poems. Purchase the entire Coradella Collegiate Bookshelf on CD at http://collegebookshelf.net 27 —21. Summer Shower A drop fell on the apple tree, Another on the roof; A half a dozen kissed the eaves, And made the gables laugh. A few went out to help the brook, That went to help the sea. Myself conjectured, Were they pearls, What necklaces could be! The dust replaced in hoisted roads, The birds jocoser sung; The sunshine threw his hat away, The orchards spangles hung. The breezes brought dejected lutes, And bathed them in the glee; The East put out a single flag, And signed the fete away. The Bustle in a House —22. The bustle in a house The morning after death Is solemnest of industries Enacted upon earth, The sweeping up the heart, And putting love away We shall not want to use again Until eternity. Contents 28 Emily Dickinson. Poems. Purchase the entire Coradella Collegiate Bookshelf on CD at http://collegebookshelf.net 29 —23. The Mystery of Pain Pain has an element of blank; It cannot recollect When it began, or if there were A day when it was not. It has no future but itself, Its infinite realms contain Its past, enlightened to perceive New periods of pain. —24. The Only News I Know The only news I know Is bulletins all day From Immortality. The only shows I see, Tomorrow and Today, Perchance Eternity. The only One I meet Is God, -the only street, Existance; this traversed If other news there be, Or admirabler show I’ll tell it you. Contents 30 Emily Dickinson. Poems. Purchase the entire Coradella Collegiate Bookshelf on CD at http://collegebookshelf.net 31 —25. The Pedigree of Honey The pedigree of honey Does not concern the bee; A clover, any time, to him Is aristocracy. —26. There Came a Wind Like a Bugle There came a wind like a bugle; It quivered through the grass, And a green chill upon the heat So ominous did pass We barred the windows and the doors As from an emerald ghost; The doom’s electric moccasin That very instant passed. On a strange mob of panting trees, And fences fled away, And rivers where the houses ran The living looked that day. The bell within the steeple wild The flying tidings whirled. How much can come And much can go, And yet abide the world! Contents 32 Emily Dickinson. Poems. Purchase the entire Coradella Collegiate Bookshelf on CD at http://collegebookshelf.net 33 —27. There Is A Word There is a word Which bears a sword can pierce an armed man. It hurls its barbed syllables, — At once is mute again. But where it fell The saved will tell On patriotic day, Some epauletted brother Gave his breath away. Wherever runs the breathless sun, Wherever roams the day, There is its victory! Behold the keenest marksman! Time’s sublimest target Is a soul “forgot”! —28. There’s a certain slant of light, There’s a certain slant of light, On winter afternoons, That oppresses, like the weight Of cathedral tunes. Heavenly hurt it gives us; We can find no scar, But internal difference Where the meanings are. None may teach it anything, ’Tis the seal, despair,An imperial affliction Sent us of the air. When it comes, the landscape listens, Shadows hold their breath; When it goes, ‘t is like the distance On the look of death. Contents 34 Emily Dickinson. Poems. Purchase the entire Coradella Collegiate Bookshelf on CD at http://collegebookshelf.net 35 —29. There’s Been a Death in the Opposite House There’s been a death in the opposite house As lately as today. I know it by the numb look Such houses have alway. The neighbours rustle in and out, The doctor drives away. A window opens like a pod, Abrupt, mechanically; Somebody flings a mattress out, The children hurry by; They wonder if It died on that, I used to when a boy. The minister goes stiffly in As if the house were his, And he owned all the mourners now, And little boys besides; And then the milliner, and the man Of the appalling trade, To take the measure of the house. There’ll be that dark parade Of tassels and of coaches soon; It’s easy as a sign, The intuition of the news In just a country town. Contents 36 Emily Dickinson. Poems. Purchase the entire Coradella Collegiate Bookshelf on CD at http://collegebookshelf.net 37 —30. This Is My Letter To The World. Letter to the world, That never wrote to me,— The simple news that Nature told, With tender majesty. Her message is committed To hands I cannot see; For love of her, sweet countrymen, Judge tenderly of me! —31. This Quiet Dust was Gentlemen and Ladies This quiet dust was gentlemen and ladies And lads and girls; Was laughter and ability and sighing, And frocks and curls; This passive place a summer’s nimble mansion, Where bloom and bees Fulfilled their oriental circuit, Then ceased like these. Contents 38 Emily Dickinson. Poems. Purchase the entire Coradella Collegiate Bookshelf on CD at http://collegebookshelf.net 39 —32. We Like March We like March, his shoes are purple, He is new and high; Makes he mud for dog and peddler, Makes he forest dry; Knows the adder’s tongue his coming, And begets her spot. Stands the sun so close and mighty That our minds are hot . News is he of all the others; Bold it were to die With the blue-birds buccaneering On his British sky. —33. When Roses Cease To Bloom, Dear When roses cease to bloom, dear and violets are done, When bumblebees in solemn flight Have passed beyond the sun, The hand that paused to gather Upon this summer’s day Will idle lie, in Auburn.— Then take my flower, pray! Contents 40 Emily Dickinson. Poems. Purchase the entire Coradella Collegiate Bookshelf on CD at http://collegebookshelf.net 41 —34. Wild Nights! Wild Nights! Wild Nights! Wild Nights! Were I with thee, Wild Nights should be Our luxury! Futile the winds To a heart in port, — Done with the compass, Done with the chart! Rowing in Eden! Ah! the sea! Contents 42 Emily Dickinson. Poems. Purchase the entire Coradella Collegiate Bookshelf on CD at http://collegebookshelf.net 43 Contents 44 Emily Dickinson. Poems. Purchase the entire Coradella Collegiate Bookshelf on CD at http://collegebookshelf.net 45 Contents 46 Emily Dickinson. Poems. Purchase the entire Coradella Collegiate Bookshelf on CD at http://collegebookshelf.net 47 Contents 48 Emily Dickinson. Poems. Purchase the entire Coradella Collegiate Bookshelf on CD at http://collegebookshelf.net 49 Contents 50 Emily Dickinson. Poems. Purchase the entire Coradella Collegiate Bookshelf on CD at http://collegebookshelf.net 51 Contents 52 Emily Dickinson. Poems. Purchase the entire Coradella Collegiate Bookshelf on CD at http://collegebookshelf.net 53 Contents 54 Emily Dickinson. Poems. Purchase the entire Coradella Collegiate Bookshelf on CD at http://collegebookshelf.net 55 Contents 56 Emily Dickinson. Poems. Purchase the entire Coradella Collegiate Bookshelf on CD at http://collegebookshelf.net 57 Contents 58 Emily Dickinson. Poems. Purchase the entire Coradella Collegiate Bookshelf on CD at http://collegebookshelf.net 59 Contents 60 Emily Dickinson. Poems. Purchase the entire Coradella Collegiate Bookshelf on CD at http://collegebookshelf.net 61 Contents 62 Emily Dickinson. Poems. Purchase the entire Coradella Collegiate Bookshelf on CD at http://collegebookshelf.net 63 Contents 64 Emily Dickinson. Poems. Purchase the entire Coradella Collegiate Bookshelf on CD at http://collegebookshelf.net 65 Contents 66 Emily Dickinson. Poems. Purchase the entire Coradella Collegiate Bookshelf on CD at http://collegebookshelf.net 67 Contents 68 Emily Dickinson. Poems. Purchase the entire Coradella Collegiate Bookshelf on CD at http://collegebookshelf.net 69 Contents 70 Emily Dickinson. Poems. Purchase the entire Coradella Collegiate Bookshelf on CD at http://collegebookshelf.net 71 Contents 72 Emily Dickinson. Poems. Purchase the entire Coradella Collegiate Bookshelf on CD at http://collegebookshelf.net 73 Contents 74 Emily Dickinson. Poems. Purchase the entire Coradella Collegiate Bookshelf on CD at http://collegebookshelf.net 75 Contents 76 Emily Dickinson. Poems. Purchase the entire Coradella Collegiate Bookshelf on CD at http://collegebookshelf.net 77 Contents 78 Emily Dickinson. Poems. Purchase the entire Coradella Collegiate Bookshelf on CD at http://collegebookshelf.net 79 Contents 80 Emily Dickinson. Poems. Purchase the entire Coradella Collegiate Bookshelf on CD at http://collegebookshelf.net 81 Contents 82 Emily Dickinson. Poems. Purchase the entire Coradella Collegiate Bookshelf on CD at http://collegebookshelf.net 83 Contents 84 Emily Dickinson. Poems. Purchase the entire Coradella Collegiate Bookshelf on CD at http://collegebookshelf.net 85 Contents 86 Emily Dickinson. Poems. Purchase the entire Coradella Collegiate Bookshelf on CD at http://collegebookshelf.net 87 Contents 88 Emily Dickinson. Poems. Purchase the entire Coradella Collegiate Bookshelf on CD at http://collegebookshelf.net 89 Contents 90 Emily Dickinson. Poems. Purchase the entire Coradella Collegiate Bookshelf on CD at http://collegebookshelf.net 91 Contents